1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of Internet access, more specifically, Internet access with two or more of users wherein the quality of service on the network is managed via a network traffic classification system and various quality of service methods and systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several Internet service providers (ISPs) provide services at public venues such as hotels, airports, restaurants (so-called “hot-spots”). ISPs may also provide distributed access in metropolitan area networks or other venues. The site may have two or more of portable computing devices as well as back office devices connected to the network, each with one or more network-enabled applications running on each device. Some applications require a high quality of service (QoS), but in the current state of the art, only minimal quality of service is available for the customer. If any quality of service is available, it is usually categorized as “free” shared bandwidth over a small amount of bandwidth versus premium bandwidth that can be purchased (also shared). For example, some hotels offer free network access at 128 kbps, then allow customers to pay for access to the remainder of a T-1 or other broadband access (1.54 mbps). Whereas this allows for some segregation and prioritization of applications, it is insufficient to provide for the bandwidth for many types of applications. Furthermore, there is no protection from unwanted application types such as worms, viruses, and/or certain types of peer-to-peer file sharing applications.
High-speed Internet access (HSIA) is a necessity for many business travelers. HSIA uses a broadband connection, typically defined in telecommunication terminology as anything greater than 200 kbps (200 kilobits/second). However, most customers are used to having much more than that available at their home or office. Often a home user will have a DSL connection or a cable modem with more than 1 mbps (1 megabit per second) downstream and greater than 0.5 mbps upstream. Note that in the home environment, this bandwidth is usually used by a single person rather than being shared between many users. As the user travels to hotels, airports, or hotspots, they expect a fast connection while on the road.
Early in the deployment of HSIA into hotels (e.g., back in 2000/2001), a single T-1 (1.5 Mbps) was typically provisioned for a hotel. Because the number of guests actually using the HSIA was small (e.g., less than 1% take rate in 2001), the circuit was underutilized with plenty of capacity for more users. However, as the number of users has increased over the years (e.g., now averaging 20% and in some locations greater than 75% of occupied rooms), the demand for more bandwidth has increased. In addition to the increase in the number of guests using the system, the types of applications have also become more bandwidth intensive. Certainly e-mail is one of the most common applications, and is typically low bandwidth, but it is now fairly common to have 10-20 megabyte file attachments in e-mail. Moreover, on-line video such as YouTube, MySpace, as well as news and sports clips are very bandwidth intensive. Thus, a T-1 in a large hotel can become saturated with business traffic and larger hotels may have to upgrade to multi-T-1 or other higher-bandwidth connectivity solutions to keep up guest demands.
Whereas the bandwidth consumption for legitimate uses of the Internet has increased rapidly over the past several years, other factors also can consume a large amount of bandwidth. One of the most aggressive classes of consumers of bandwidth is the peer-to-peer file sharing applications such as BitTorrent, LimeWire, Kazaa, Gnutella, eDonkey, etc. These applications can connect to other peers on the network and download/upload large files (multi-gigabyte files in some cases). These applications automatically adjust to consume as much bandwidth as is available. Hence, a single client running a peer-to-peer application on a hotel can chew up all of the available bandwidth at the hotel, leaving other users with inadequate bandwidth for their needs. Clearly this is an undesirable situation for the hotel guest. One way of solving this is for hoteliers to continue upgrading circuit bandwidth (e.g. multi-T1, a DS-3 or and/or a metro Ethernet connection) to keep up with the demand. The problem with that is that no matter how big the pipe is, it can be consumed by the peer-to-peer applications.
In addition to peer-to-peer applications, other factors can also affect bandwidth. Malware (e.g., worms, viruses, Trojan horses, etc.) can spread and consume a large amount of bandwidth on a property. Thus a malware suppression system is needed to prevent these from negatively impacting users.
Whereas there are several companies that provide “bandwidth shaping”, “traffic shaping”, and/or “packet shaping” technologies, there is a need to provide a system that allows customers to purchase a particular amount of bandwidth for a particular application.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.